The school-to-work transition in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Despite evidence linking youth unemployment to labour market conditions rather than to poor educational preparation, the policy response has since the mid-1980s focused on education and training, extending the school-to-work transition. Although the unemployed include a high proportion of less qualified people, the author questions the efficiency and equity of training as a remedy. Subsidizing post-compulsory education for the most able can be justified where it develops skills complementary to those of the least able, he argues, but tackling hard-core youth unemployment needs a wide range of policies concerned with economic, social and physical environments.